Hidoi Itami
by Sagittarius-Arrow98
Summary: Toboe is lost and his pack has to find him before Paradise. Problem is, the frozen wastelands aren't exactly easy to navigate. But when he is hopelessly lost and left, almost for dead, a pack of four picks him up and takes him in. Now, Toboe must decide how best to join and keep both packs together and strive towards Paradise, with both packs intact.


Chapter 1: The Four of Them, The Five of Us

- P.o.V

Toboe jolted awake, gasping for the cold, crisp air that burned his lungs and reminded him he was alive.

He sat, looking around in confusion at his surroundings: a cool, stone cave, floored by moss and ceilinged by icicles. He glanced down; there was a thick blanket pooled in his lap, having been thrown off by his pulling himself up-right.

A blanket… Who…?

Toboe's eyes widened almost impossibly. The others!

He whipped his head round at an unhealthy speed, scanning the rest of the cave for a sound, a smell, anything that would tell him that his friends were there, they were safe…

A large wolf's form was huddled up next to a smaller wolf's silhouette, the latter obviously female – or a very feminine male – due to the shape and size. Hige and Blue…?

Toboe turned his head slowly, not willing to let them out of his sight; this didn't seem right – he didn't want to be caught off guard, as Tsume had taught him…

Tsume.

Again, Toboe turned at a speed enough to cause him whiplash, sniffing at the darker end of the cave for Tsume's scent…

Two more scents. Two more wolves.

Not Tsume. Not Kiba.

Toboe felt a chill dash up his spine and he was pretty sure it wasn't the cold.

Where was he?

Where were the others?

Where they safe?

… Who are these wolves?

A small gasp left his mouth as he whipped back round – for a third time – to see that the hulking form of the large wolf at the mouth of the cave had stood up; it now looked like a small bear, and if Toboe hadn't had caught the scent of wolf or seen the pointed ears and long, bushy tail, he definitely would've thought as much.

A whimper escaped his throat as the much larger wolf trotted forward; it was a male, and one of that size would have no problem tearing Toboe to pieces.

The large wolf slowed to a stop, as if unwilling to frighten Toboe further. The little wolf that was led beside it before had followed it up. The shape and size of a large fox, it's graceful limbs swept across the floor as it slowly made it's – her – way over to Toboe.

Out of fear, he gnashed his jaws at her, growling lowly, fur rising in agitation.

Then there was a tremendous weight and a forceful impact carrying it into his back; he yelped and ploughed chest-first into the hard floor, fur flattening in submission as knife-like teeth snapped shut around the loose scruff of his neck. Growling louder than he did, one of the scents he had smelt earlier pressed it's fangs closer together, getting closer to breaking the skin.

Again, Toboe whimpered, fear and pain instinctually pushing him into a submissive state. The weight on his back huffed, then slowly released him and stepped off him.

Toboe nervously turned his head, ears flat against his head at the sight of a large, bristling wolf silhouette with fiery eyes – like burnt amber – standing over him with a fluffed-up tail held high.

He looked back forward to see that the previous two wolves had leapt outside – now the female was frolicking in the snow, playfully barking at the male when he casually flicked snow at her with his left paw and sometimes with his tail.

Toboe heard another huff behind him and turned back to see the shadowed male nodding his head towards the opening of the cave. To go outside.

Toboe stood shakily, crouching slightly under the hidden male's watchful gaze, and crept quickly outside.

Every nerve in his body was on fire, both with the urge to run and the freezing cold. But he was afraid and the submissive state hadn't receded in the slightest. In fact, as an outsider to this small pack, they had every right to kill him. They hadn't though, only accepted him into the pack, however grudgingly. This confused him: why had they taken in a complete stranger, a possible threat to the pack?

A snuffling whine from right in front of his face broke him out of his perplexed daze. The female was staring worriedly at him, nose nearly touching his. He gave a startled yelp and flailed, falling backwards onto his tail.

He whined a little, sitting stiffly on his sore tail. Looking up, Toboe saw a smiling girl, an exasperated guy, an incredulous boy and a teen laughing his tail off at Toboe's predicament. Toboe blushed, his body having shifted to his human form in response to the others'.

The girl had almost black hair – they all had – but the ends of her hair faded into a dusky gold. Her eyes were the same: a dark, almost black, brown, flaked through with gold. Her features were average for a wolf, due to the inherent ability for a wolf's human form to appeal to any other creature. She also looked about 15; another factor of the human form was that it didn't seem to age. Her clothes were simple, yet stylistic, consisting of a dark, plain purple hoodie with zip pockets, plain, thick black leggings, large black heavy-duty all-weather boots and a paler lilac scarf, seemingly hand-knitted. From underneath the hoodie, Toboe could see a plain navy t-shirt, long enough to stretch mid-way down her thighs.

Toboe looked at the rest and blinked. The teen that had laughed at him now stood impassively next to the youngest boy; the teen was wearing a thick orange hoodie underneath an even thicker blue body warmer. A pair of thick black jeans and worn trainers completed his look. His eyes were the same dark brown as the girl's, as well as the others', but were dusted with a silvery sheen and framed thickly by his lashes. He flicked his head, shifting the hair that flopped loosely into his eyes. Standing taller than the girl by maybe half a head, he stared down at Toboe, who stood a few centimetres over her.

The wolf he previously thought a man due to his size turned out to be a tall, broad teen, wearing a white unzipped windbreaker with green accents, faded blue jeans with zips just about everywhere and a light blue t-shirt – shorter, not like the girl's – with a round picture on it, something that Toboe couldn't quite decipher. His eyes were the same black-brown, only glinted with a bronze, coppery colour.

The littlest boy had short-cropped hair, and large round doe-eyes; they were a chocolate brown and the whites weren't white. They were blue. He wore a baggy hoody and a pair of silky trackies. He glared and sniffed in disdain at Toboe, before he began to tug at the tallest boy's sleeve.

The exasperated look on the large teen's face had turned into a warm, friendly-giant sort of smile, but it had just as quickly morphed into a mask of fond annoyance as the boy, younger than even Toboe, plucked insistently at his sleeve.

"Why can't we just leave him?"

Toboe's eyes widened. What was the biggest going to say to that? Since the biggest is usually the Alpha… What would they do to him?

Send him away?

Kill him?

"Because, that's heartless and Itami said not to!" Came the reply.

Apparently, the female held a lot of authority over these boys, since the mere mention of her name had the youngest boy paling considerably and becoming quiet.

The girl bounded forward and stood in front of Toboe, a small smile playing on her lips.

"My name's Itami. They're Kasunda, Kasei and Kumo," she gestured to each of the boys in turn, biggest to smallest, then continued, "You can come with us until we can help you find your pack, okay~?"

Toboe gaped.

They were offering to help him find the others.

The others…

Where were the others…?

What happened?

Toboe doubled over, clutching at his head, whining. Worried voices washed over his head as he dropped heavily to his knees, images flashing through his head. They stuttered and faded, then focused vividly with a vengeance, grinding all his thought processes to a halt; he chewed on his lip till it bled, tearing fiercely at his hair in an attempt to alleviate the pain.

And then he was on his back on the powdery ground, a massive mound of hard-packed snow pressing into his chest and onto his head – he couldn't breathe, it was compressed almost to the point of becoming ice – and he was thrashing-! And suddenly his head broke through to meet cold, wintery air, gasping harshly, mind blank and empty as survival overcame the fuzzy memories that had hurt him so.

His gasping slowed into deep breathing, then his head flew back and he tumbled backwards into the snow yet again.

Toboe grit his teeth, forcing himself up-right through his numbness and cried, "What was _that_ for?!"

What met his eyes was a sight that horrified him to no end.

Kumo was crouching on the ground behind Kasunda, cowering and muttering to himself, staring at Toboe, wide-eyed and fearful. He looked so scared for Toboe, even though he had wanted him gone.

Kasei and Kasunda were both looking frightened and concerned, panting slightly; they must've been the ones who pushed him down and buried him, judging from their weary expressions and icy, flushed fingers. But they had dug him out as well.

Itami… Itami's hair was fluttering across her face, obscuring her eyes, her lips were tightly pressed together. Her body was stiff, still in the position she had taken in order to slap him.

Toboe blinked and her hair shifted, revealing tears glistening in her glowing orbs. Toboe gasped – what did he do to make her _cry_?

"… Don't..."

Toboe sat up straighter, leaning into her words. Her voice was strong, in a quiet way. An Alpha's voice.

"… Don't you do that again."

Toboe opened his mouth to interrupt and was cut off.

"Don't you _ever_ scare the _fuck_ out of us again!" She roared at him and he shrank back in utter fear and shock.

She glared at him, then sighed, body relaxing, before sinking deftly onto her knees.

"I said we were gonna get you back to your pack, and fucking hell, you are _not_ gonna die on us!"

Toboe's eyes flickered over to Kasei as he muttered, "Fucking seizures and shit."

The two older boys patted their hands off, rubbing them together in hopes of restoring heat to their fingers. Kumo had crept over and was clutching onto Kasunda's jacket, murmuring to himself: reassuring himself.

Toboe grinned wryly; so Kumo _did_ care.

Toboe sighed and prepared to stand, but ended up yelping as Kasei casually swaggered around him and picked him out of the snow and stood him on his feet.

Toboe fidgeted under Kasei's gaze. Kasei's thick black lashes gave him a perpetually bored look, but it was intimidating enough for Toboe. Especially since he was submissive towards Kasei now.

"Oi, baka!"

Toboe's head flew up to meet Itami's gaze. They were all a few metres away now, up on the ridge of a snow bank, backs to the sunset.

"What's your name?"

Toboe smiled.

"Toboe."


End file.
